


Revelations Redux

by whitecrossgirl



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Revelations, no depiction of drugs, not jeid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:54:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitecrossgirl/pseuds/whitecrossgirl
Summary: Three different canon AUs based on the Revelations storyline of season 2 that had originally been posted on my Tumblr in like 2015 as writing prompts from my followers.C1: What if Spencer hadn't been kidnapped but JJ hadn't been able to kill the dogs?C2: What if instead of choosing Hotch to die, Reid chose JJ?C3: What if JJ had been kidnapped by Hankel instead of Reid?
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau & Spencer Reid
Kudos: 12





	1. Take 1

**Author's Note:**

> These will be a mixture of canon and AU elements and I will say there won't be any mention of drug abuse because I can't write things like that; I've tried to but it's not my thing.

When JJ had told Morgan and Reid that she was only ever afraid of the woods; that had been a lie. In fact when she was a kid, she was the reason the other kids were so scared of the woods; making up stories about different things that ‘actually’ happened, daring them to go into the woods at night so she could scare them by making wolf howls or scream; she did it all. 

The one thing that scared JJ was dogs, anything more vicious or bigger than a labradour scared her senseless. They had done ever since she was a child and she, Roz and some of their friends had taken their bikes for a ride outside the town. They had accidentally trespassed on Old Man Sinclair’s farm and he had set his two big Alsatian dogs on them. JJ never forgot the cold fear which took over her heart, how her legs ached as she tried to pedal away as quickly as she could as the dogs snarled and snapped at her heels and how she screamed and screamed until they managed to get out of sight from the dogs and Roz hugged her until she calmed down. She could still feel the snapping of their teeth, hear their snarls and barks, felt that terror and panic take over her whole body.

She’d been terrified of dogs ever since.

“JJ, he’s gone around the back.” Reid hissed as he watched Hankel run off, however JJ had already gone into the barn, shining her torch around and keeping her gun aimed, ready to shoot. As she stepped carefully, she felt her shoe land in something damp and sticky and heard an omnious squelching noise. JJ looked down to see blood and the remains of the poor woman who had been kidnapped on a mattress. The video hadn't been faked. They had torn her limb from limb. JJ felt nausea and bile rise in her throat as she stared at the mangled corpse before she heard it. The dangerous low growling of three very large, very angry dogs. Dogs she had watched rip this woman apart.

In that instant she wasn’t Agent Jennifer Jareau anymore, she was 9 year old Jenny who was frozen in terror as Old Man Sinclair’s dogs attacked her, Roz and their friends. Only this time she couldn’t cycle away on her bike. She couldn’t even run or shoot her gun. Her legs went numb, causing her to fall to the floor and all she could do was shield her head and scream, something which provoked the dogs further. Despite the various dangerous situations she had been in before; she had never frozen up like this, panicked like this before. She couldn't move, only scream.

“JJ!” Reid shouted as he ran into the barn to find JJ huddled on the floor with three large dogs about to attack her. Without thinking, Reid shot all three dogs and as they fell to the floor ran to JJ and helped her to her feet. Tears were running down her face and JJ latched onto him as he led her out of the barn and sat her on a hay bale just outside the door. “Take deep breaths, it’s OK.”

JJ put her head between her legs and did as she was told, feeling her pounding heart slow down and the panic fading before she remembered why she was there. Tobias Hankel. Their unsub. What if he escaped? It would be her fault. She shouldn’t have gone in the barn.

“Hankel.” JJ managed to say when she trusted herself to speak without screaming.

“He headed towards the cornfield.” Spencer replied and JJ got to her feet. “What are you doing?”

“Like you said, Hotch and the others will be en route by now. We can’t let him escape.” JJ said as she took off determinedly. She wanted to be as far away from that barn and those things as she could. She also couldn't let her fears be the reason for the unsub to escape. That wasn't how they did things in the BAU. Reid followed her and together they crept into the cornfield. They knew Hankel was at least one of the UnSubs but when they spotted him in the middle of the cornfield, too busy having an argument against himself to notice their presence; they realised things were more complicated than they initially seemed.


	2. Take 2

“Choose one of them to die.” Hankel ordered Reid who shook his head. He had already refused several times and with each gunshot, his death seemed more and more imminent. He knew the team were watching, knew that he had to pick one of them to die. If he did that, if one of them died, the others would never forgive him. Who could he choose? Gideon and Hotch were father figures and mentors for him. Morgan was the older brother he had always wanted but never had. Garcia was the most loving and caring person he knew. JJ was like a best friend and sister rolled into one. Emily was the only person who let him chat and ramble without interrupting or being too snarky about it. He couldn't choose any of them to die.

Unless, unless... if he picked someone and used his explanation as a way to pass on a clue or a hint to where he was.. They would figure it out and find him. He and Hankel had to be in some sort of graveyard if the broken remnants of headstones were anything to go by. But who? Who would Tobias, Charles _and_ Raphael believe he’d want dead.

There was only one choice really. No matter which personality was in control when they came to the door, they would all remember her. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for this if it went wrong but this was his one and only chance.

“I choose, I choose Jennifer Jareau. She betrayed me, she abandoned me tonight at the farm and also… she broke the Seventh Commandment. We’re engaged to be married but I know she’s had affairs with other men. The Bible says that adulterous woman must be buried to her chest and stoned to death. She’s the one who has to die.” Reid explained, hoping the team would pick up his message and that JJ would understand his lies. Hankel raised the gun towards the roof and fired the bullet into the ceiling.

“What? Why would he say that?” JJ asked stunned. She hadn’t abandoned Reid, he was supposed to go around to the back of the barn and what did he mean by calling her adulterous? They weren't dating, they definitely weren't engaged and she wasn't seeing anyone at the moment. All she knew was that he had chosen her to die and she didn't understand. 

“There must be something in his explanation.” Emily replied calmly, earning herself another confused look from JJ. While everyone else had been in various stages of panic, Emily had been eerily calm throughout the entire thing. She didn't even flinch when they watched Reid get beaten. 

“How do you know that? How are you being so calm about all of this, Reid is being tortured and he just told Hankel to kill me!” JJ snapped, she didn’t mean to be mean but Emily’s calmness was really unnerving her. Even Hotch and Gideon were showing concern for Reid but Emily was treating it like no big deal. Like Reid got kidnapped by a Unsub every other Tuesday. Like it didn't matter that numerous people were dead. Like Reid didn't matter.

“She’s right Prentiss,” Hotch said and Emily looked at them. She had hidden away the part of her life that had been Lauren; the things that Lauren had seen and done and right now didn’t seem like the time to tell them that this wasn’t the first kidnapping and torture session she’d been witness to. Ian liked to play with people to make them talk.

“I guess I just compartmentalize better but that’s not the point. Reid was trying to tell us something. You were at the farm, Hankel would know your name. The other stuff must be related to where he is.” Emily suggested; whenever a hostage was spilling information, there was almost always a hidden meaning in the rambling. He had mentioned JJ abandoning him and the Seventh Commandment. _Thou shalt not commit adultery. "_ He mentioned JJ, the Commandments and what else?"

“Something about punishing the adulterous woman.” Morgan said, tearing his eyes away from the screen for the first time, his hand still in a tight grip in Garcia’s hand. When eh found Hankel, he was going to rip his head off with his bare hands.

“Yeah I didn’t go to church much as a kid, what was the big deal about adultery?” Garcia asked; Gideon had left the room the moment Reid had named JJ and they thought for a moment, trying to recall long gone church sessions, Sunday School classes and RE lessons in school. 

“The story of the adulterous woman.” Hotch said after a minute of thought. “It’s from John's Gospel. A woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus and asked what the punishment should be for her.”

“I remember, they wanted to stone her to death but Jesus said, ‘Let the man who is without sin cast the first stone’ and they had to let her go.” Emily finished and Morgan looked confused.

“So he’s somewhere with stones. That doesn’t help.” Morgan said and Garcia quickly swallowed her discomfort and looked up stoning as an execution.

“Oh God, people who are executed by stoning are buried up to either their chest or neck and… have stones thrown at their head and neck until they’re dead.” Garcia read and unwillingly played back Reid’s message. 

“He mentions the being buried and stones. What if he’s in a cemetery?” Morgan offered as Gideon returned, his eyes a little red but none of them commented on it. “Is there any nearby?”

“One just a few miles away.” Garcia replied and as the team got ready, she stood up and hugged JJ. “It’ll be OK.”

“I know.” JJ replied as she followed the rest of the team out.

They needed to find Reid and fast.

As they led Reid out of the graveyard and away from Hankel’s body, JJ walked up to him and Reid winced. He should have known this was coming; JJ was going to be furious at him for what he said about her. He hadn’t known what else to do but also a tiny part of him was angry that they hadn’t stuck together; it was nobody’s fault but after being beaten, drugged and starved for two days; anger had set in.

“JJ I-” Reid said before JJ put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Reid hugged her back as JJ looked at him.

“It’s OK Spence, I understand why you said that and I’m sorry for what happened.” JJ said and Reid nodded.

“So am I.” Reid replied; he was just glad the nightmare was over. All he wanted to do was go home and try and figure out some way to forget what had happened, find some way to make the monsters and the pain go away. Through any means necessary.


	3. Take 3

“I think he’s gone around the back.” Reid whispered and before JJ could say anything, he ran off into the night. JJ tried to follow him but heard movement from the barn. JJ turned towards it; surely Hankel had to be in there. Aside from the cornfield, there was nowhere else for him to hide.

JJ looked at the barn doors and pushed them open, shining her flashlight and keeping her gun aimed and ready. She heard the growling of the dogs and screamed as she felt someone grab her before something heavy hit her across the back of the head. The world fell into darkness and as she lost consciousness, Hankel grabbed her under her arms and dragged her out of the barn towards the pickup. 

Raphael warned him that the Armies of Satan would come.

Reid heard the scream just as he reached the cornfield. Quickly he turned and ran back towards the barn. As he reached it, he saw the barn door ajar and heard the screech of tyres as the old pickup took off into the night. 

“JJ!” Reid yelled as he heard the loud ominous growls of Hankel’s dogs as they reached the barn door. Hungry for more meat, they launched themselves at Reid who quickly shot them before trying to follow the tyre tracks. At the end of the dirt road, the main road split in two directions and he couldn’t see or hear any sign of the pick up. Reid turned and ran back towards the house. Maybe Hankel had a landline phone. He needed to contact the team and fast.

“Wake up!”

The painful slap across her face brought JJ back to consciousness. JJ felt the ropes rub painfully against her wrist and she tried to work out where she was. Wherever it was, she had to gag at the smell of burning fish. Her head was pounding and she looked up at Tobias. His disposition was different from at the farm. There he was scared. Now he looked cold and remorseless.

“Tobias?” JJ asked and Hankel pulled sharply on her hair causing her to cry out.

“My weak son? Why do you want him? We knew the armies of Satan would rise against us.” Henkel said and JJ looked at him stunned. His son? She tried to recall the profile. They said it was a partnership. Hankel’s father was Charles Hankel. They couldn’t find anything on him. Didn’t the idea of split personality disorder come up? She couldn’t remember. She was in pain and couldn’t focus. All she could focus on was the pain in her bound wrists and the lurching of her stomach as she tried not to vomit at the stench of burnt fish.

“I’m not part of any army. My name is Jennifer Jareau, I don’t mean any harm and what happened at the farm, I was just doing my job and-” JJ fell silent as Hankel held up a bullet and set it into a revolver, spinning it before clicking it into place.

“And I’m doing mine. Confess your sins.” Hankel said and JJ shook her head.

“I don’t have any.” JJ replied as Hankel held the gun to her head and fired. Blank. 

“Confess your sins.” Hankel repeated and JJ again shook her head.

“I don’t have any.” JJ repeated and Hankel fired again.

“What happened?” Hotch asked as they looked around the house.

“I went to check the cornfield and JJ went into the barn. It’s my fault, I ran off. I should have stayed.” Spencer said sadly as in the next room, Garcia tried to hack Hankel’s systems. There were so many streams and connections and firewalls that even she was finding it difficult. But not impossible.

“It’s not your fault.” Gideon reassured as Emily and Morgan walked around the house, profiling what they saw. From the looks of it, two people lived here however there was no sign of the other resident. Most likely it was Hankel’s father, Charles Hankel. The contrast of the rooms was astounding. Charles Hankel’s room was perfect, everything in place and neat. Hankel’s was the polar opposite, disorganised, chaotic and ramshackle.

“Here,” Emily said as she rummaged through the desks and produced what looked like Hankel’s journal. Morgan took through and read it. The majority was ramblings about religion and his father and as he flicked towards the later pages, warning bells began ringing for him.

“Hankel’s father is ill. In his journal, Hankel writes about his father wanting him to kill him. I don’t know if he’s alive or not, but we need to consider the possibility that Hankel killed his father.” Morgan said as they heard Garcia in the next room. "That would have been the trigger."

“Oh my god no!” Garcia said and they came running.

On the screen in what was a dark and dimly lit room, was JJ. She was tied to a chair and Hankel stood in front of her, holding a gun.

“You’re one of the Armies of Satan. One of the Seven. Confess your sins and be forgiven.” Hankel warned and JJ looked at him.

“No. I keep telling you. I’m not one of the Seven and I’m not part of any army. I have nothing to confess.” JJ insisted and aenkel fired again before setting the gun aside. She was shaking in fear and could only hope that somehow the team would find her. 

The team could only watch as Garcia attempted to trace the feed and Hankel began removing JJ’s shoe to beat her foot with a belt. Her cries of pain tore through all of them. Garcia had tears in her eyes. Morgan was becoming more and more enraged. Gideon was watching Reid, who was shaking in terror, tears running down his face. Hotch stared at the screen in disgust before he noticed Emily’s blank expression. It seemed to take a lifetime before Hankel stopped hurting JJ and he stared at her in disgust.

“I’ll give you some more time to reflect on your sins.” Hankel spat as he left the room. JJ looked around the dark room, she was trying not to cry but she was just in so much agony. She tried to focus on what was in the room. The stove which stank of something burning. The headstones propped against a wall. A graveyard? The camera and screens. Camera. Screens. The team. JJ turned to face the camera and felt the tears run down her face. They had to be watching. They had to find her.

“Help me.” JJ said brokenly as she could only wait for Hankel to return.

“Reid,” Gideon said as he followed Reid out of the room, Hotch and Emily following. Morgan was staying with Garcia to comfort her and try and help her locate the source. Reid leant against the wall and buried his head in his hands. This was all his fault. He shouldn’t have left JJ. He should have been the one captured. This was all his fault. All his fault. Reid shook his head as Gideon tried to talk to him and instead, Emily took his arms and moved them away from his face.

“Reid, look at me. You need to focus. Standing here sobbing will not help us work out where Hankel could have taken JJ. She needs you now more than ever. Help us work out Hankel’s mind and we’ll know where he’s taken her. But we can only do that if all of us work together. Do you understand?” Emily stated in a firm voice and Reid looked at the newest team member in confusion. Ever since they came to Georgia, no, since she joined the BAU, Emily never seemed fazed by what they did. Not even the case they just had in New Mexico. She hadn’t blinked when JJ was being threatened with a gun and beaten. Did she not care? Was she just immune to everything? 

“How can you be so calm? None of this gets to you. Not even JJ being attacked and she’s supposed to be your friend.” Reid snapped at Emily who took a step back.

“He’s right, you didn’t flinch.” Hotch said and Emily felt the three men’s scrutinizing gazes. What could she say to that? They didn’t know about what she had seen, what she had done. This wasn’t the first time she had to watch and do nothing as someone was tortured for information. But they couldn’t know that. The longer that stayed buried, the better.

“I just, compartmentalize better I guess.” Emily replied and was spared any further interrogation by Morgan asking them to come back.

JJ looked up as the door opened again and tensed as Hankel walked back in. His demeanour had changed again. From rage, there was now a blank emptiness. Not the nervousness of Tobias or the rage of Charles. This was something else. A third personality?

“Who are you?” JJ asked timidly, bracing herself for more pain.

“Raphael. I am an Angel of God and you claim to be without sin. Yet you bring your armies, you bring the rest of the Seven. You have a choice. Choose one of them to die.” Hankel ordered and JJ looked at him in terror.

“What?” JJ asked as Hankel raised the gun. Three shots had already been fired. It was a pistol which held six rounds. She had a one in three chance of being killed.

“I said. Pick one to die.” Hankel repeated and in his house, the team looked at one another. What could they do?

“I won’t.” JJ said and once again, Hankel held the gun to her head and fired.

“Choose.” Hankel said and JJ shook her head.

“I can’t.” JJ replied. She couldn’t let one of the team die for her. She would die instead, beaten, scared, helpless in this place. Hankel aimed the gun and fired again. This would be the last one. The kill shot.

“Choose.” Hankel repeated. “Prove yourself to be loyal and true to Raphael and God and that you are not a sinner.”

JJ looked around and saw the headstones again as well as the camera. The team would only be threatened if they were watching. The brainwave hit instantly. She was loath to do it but it was only way they would all survive. He would understand. She knew he would understand, he understood her better than anyone.

“I choose Spencer Reid.” JJ said and Hankel turned the gun and fired the bullet into the wall. 

“Why him?” Hankel asked and JJ thought quickly. They had to be in a graveyard. Graveyard. Burial. 

“He-he broke the Fourth Commandment.” JJ lied. “He had no honour for his mother. He didn’t even give her a proper burial when she died. Spencer Reid is the sinner who has to die.”

“Very well.” Hankel said and left the room. JJ looked back to the camera pleadingly.

He had to understand. 

“What did she mean by that?” Garcia asked. “Your mom’s alive.”

“I know. JJ knows that, she was lying.” Reid replied and ran her words through his mind. She mentioned a burial, it had to be her way of telling them where she was.

“Garcia, where is the nearest cemeteries?” Reid asked and Garcia pulled the information up. There was one just two miles away, the name of which matched a name which reoccured in Hankel’s diaries.

“Let’s go.” Hotch said.

“Come with me,” Hankel said as he returned into the shack and cut JJ free. JJ flinched away from him as he supported her to her feet. Unlike Raphael and Charles, he was worried, timid. He took her by the arm but not as forcefully as he had, as if he was unwilling.

“Tobias?” JJ asked, judging by his dispositon, it had to be Tobias.

“Yes,” Hankel replied as he helped JJ limp out of the room.

“Are we in a graveyard?” JJ asked as her bare foot hit the ground, the hard earth making the tender skin painful.

“Yes, I used to come here to get high. Don’t tell my dad.” Hankel said as he supported JJ across the grass.

“Where are we going?” JJ asked before she was flung onto the ground. JJ looked up and saw the change in Hankel’s stance and knew Tobias was gone.

“Dig Girl.” Hankel ordered, pointing the gun at a shovel on the ground. JJ picked up the small shovel and plunged it into the dirt. She needed to stall for time and looked up at Hankel. If she couldn't stall, the team wouldn't find her until it was too late.

“I can’t.” JJ whimpered and Hankel back-handed her across the face.

“I said Dig!” Hankel roared and JJ pushed the shovel to raise up some of the grass. Even without the pain in her wrists, head and foot; it was still draining a lot of her weakened energy to do so and her progress was slow. Maybe it would be slow enough. Maybe it was her imagination but as she dug more and more into the earth, she could hear cars approaching. It seemed Hankel heard them too and as he turned, JJ found one last burst of strength and swung the shovel at his knees, causing him to fall to the ground and JJ to grab the gun.

“You fucking bitch!” Hankel roared as JJ aimed the gun at him. “Only one bullet in that gun Girl. You can’t kill all of us with that.”

“Yes I can,” JJ replied and as Hankel lunged at her, she fired, managing to hit him in the heart as the team rushed over. JJ felt herself fall to the ground but instead of hitting the ground, she felt someone’s arms wrap around her. JJ looked up to see Reid looking at her and she latched onto him, hugging him tightly.

“I knew you would come.” JJ said, burying her head in Reid’s shoulder as he led her away from Hankel’s body. She would need time to recover from what had happened but for now at least, the nightmare was over.


End file.
